“The last festival in this millennium” was how Guntis Ulmanis addressed the closing of the XXII Latvian Song and XII Dance Celebration in Riga on 5 July 1998. The numbers needed no ceremonial padding: the massed choir had 13,402 singers, the dance concerts 10,659 dancers, and the combined wind orchestra 1,691 musicians. That same Sunday, Ulmanis walked in the procession alongside the participants, Prime Minister Guntars Krasts, and Culture Minister Ramona Umblija.
Latvia’s Song and Dance Celebration tradition began in 1873 and, after the restoration of independence, regained a public voice of statehood as well. The 1998 celebration took place in the summer of the Republic of Latvia’s 80th anniversary, when cultural ritual and the self-confidence of the restored state were closely intertwined.
Related events
- 1950On 5 July 1950, the Ape district newspaper Sarkanā Ausma printed Ojārs Vācietis’s school-age poem “Miera balss” – his first publication in the press.
- 1980On 5 July 1980, the XVIII Latvian Song and VIII Dance Celebration opened in Riga, with 17,425 singers taking part in the massed choir.
- 2002On 5 July 2002, Riga opened the NATO candidate countries’ summit “Riga 2002: Bridge to Prague,” gathering the prime ministers of the Vilnius Ten.